Even While the World is at War with Aliens
by The-Oddity-of-Azure
Summary: I noticed there are hardly any Falling Skies fanfics, so i started one during class :  Im not that great at summaries so bear with me here. Please read and review :  Ben and OC.
1. Background Check and Nighttime Wandering

Before the first bombing, I had already left my life behind. I was sick of the orphanage. I had been in there since I was ten. Four years in that hell-hole and I was done. So I left. I packed all my books, all my clothes, and all my journals. I love writing and drawing, so I brought all my pens and markers. I collected all my money and anything else I thought might be useful. I also took a gun that I knew one of the ladies who took care of the children there had hidden away.

I was lying underneath an overpass of the highway when the first bombing happened. I hid there for as long as I could, keeping quiet, but they still found me. These strange, six-legged creatures took me away. They clamped something strange and long on my back, running down my spine. I could feel it. It hurt. I felt it from the base of my neck to the bottom of my back, before I passed out.

I stayed there for months, working for them. It felt as though I was in a dream, like all of this was just a figment of my imagination. I had no control over what I was doing, and I didn't seem to care or notice a thing. I felt like this was what I was meant for, not being human.

And now here I lay, on a palette on the floor, surrounded by a dozen others that had been harnessed with me. They had taken the harnesses off us and we were all supposed to be asleep. I, however, could not find sleep for long. I kept waking back up. I just sat staring at the ceiling, still in awe at what had happened to the world, because I hadn't ever had a chance to think about it with the creatures controlling my mind. I had heard someone call them 'skitters' and I think the name is quite fitting.

I closed my eyes and begged for sleep to take me away. Suddenly, I heard the door open. My eyes flew wide open and I sat up just in time to see someone slip outside. I didn't know where I was, but I decided to see where this person was going. Maybe I could talk to them and see if they knew anything about this place. No one told me anything except that it was the Resistance.

I placed my feet firmly onto the cold tiles and stood up slowly. I crept over to the door and opened it up and slid through the small opening I made.

Woah. The hallway is way darker than I would have thought. At least the classroom I had just exited had a candle lit inside. The hallways are pitch black!

I heard footsteps walking away to my right and I began to follow them. I picked up my pace as I heard them getting further away, until I was right by them.

"He-," was all I got out before running into someone, and knocking us both to the freezing cold ground.

"Sorry!" I said, in a high pitched voice. At least I have the excuse that it so dark in here on my side. It also helps hide the blush.

"It's okay. Who are you?" a voice asked. It was a boy and they were still on the floor next to me. I stood up, hoping to start a trend so they'd stand too.

"Emmeline."

"Ben."

"Nice to meet you. In complete darkness after I just knocked you to the floor." I said, grinning. He laughed.

"You too. Were you harnessed too? I heard you come out of the makeshift doctors office…"

"Yeah. Hurt like hell when they took it off."

"Do you have the spikes down your spine?"

"Spikes?" I whispered. I raised my hand and felt my neck. Sure enough, I felt the little prickly spikes on my back.

"Oh, yeah. Is that from the harness?" I asked.

"Yeah. I suppose so." Was all he said.

"Now I want to know what these spikes look like. Wonder if there's a mirror anywhere around here…"

"I dunno."

"I'm going to explore. Wanna come?" I asked.

"Sure."

We set off down the hall. I saw a room with a candle glowing in it. I opened the door and peered in. I saw what looked to be a bathroom.

"Ben?"

"Yeah?"

"Just seeing if you were there. I think I found a mirror."

I walked in and saw four or five candles on the edges of the sinks. A large mirror was set on the wall. I walked toward it and saw Ben come in, too. I looked into the mirror to avoid looking at him creepily. I turned to the side and looked at my neck. I couldn't see much, but what I could see was pretty creepy.

I went to pull off my shirt so I could see the spikes.

"Woah, what're you doing?"

"Chill, dude. I just want to look at the spikes." I said, rolling my eyes. The world was being taken over by aliens and he is scared of a girl in her bra looking at spikes coming out of her back.

I pulled off my shirt and turned to the side again. The spikes went all the way down my back, just like the harness had. I ran my fingers over them, slightly freaked out by what was sticking out of my skin.

"Crazy…" I said softly.

I kept looking at the spikes in shock. Tears threatened to fall, but I kept them in. I wasn't going to cry over spilled milk that someone else spilled. I put my shirt on over my head and turned to see him just standing there awkwardly.

"I suppose we should get back soon." I said.

"Yeah, probably." was all he said. I grabbed a candle from the sink so I could see down the corridor.

We walked out again and found our way back to the classroom.


	2. Rainy Days remind me of the Good Ol days

I woke up to find everyone just getting up. Ben had woken me up so I wouldn't be late for breakfast. I took a book that had been recovered in my bag under the highway overpass. When we got to breakfast with all the other kids that had been harnessed, Ben started over to sit with some people. I realized then that I didn't have anywhere to go. I went and got a piece of bread and sat at a small, empty table. I took out my book and began to read.

"Harry Potter?" the voice startled me, but I recognized it. It was Ben.

"Yeah, my favorite books!" I said, folding the corner of the page to mark my place.

"My dad used to read them to me every night." He admitted. I grinned.

"Can I sit here?" he asked.

"Sure," He took the seat across from me.

"Have you read all of them?" I asked.

"Yeah, which one is your favorite?"

"This one. Deathly Hallows, even though I cry every time I read it."

"Why do you cry?" he asked, curious.

"Because of Severus and Lily! You find out that Sev was actually a good guy and then he dies. And the whole idea that Sev loved Lily and he tried to save her and she died and he died and… its just…sad!" I said, going off into one of my Harry Potter ramblings. Ben just laughed a little. I blushed a bit at myself going crazy about it and smiled a little bit.

"Have you ever read _The Hunger Games?" _ I asked.

"No…"

"They're good too. It's post-apocalyptic, sorta."

"Relevant…" he said. I laughed.

"A bit. Deathly Hallows too." I said, looking down. Then I saw a small shadow come up to the table. I looked up and saw a miniature Ben.

"Hey Matt." Ben said.

"Hi, who are you?" the boy said, looking at me.

"I'm Emmeline."

"I'm Matt. Ben is my brother." I grinned. He literally looked like Ben, just a lot shorter. It was so adorable; it made sense that they were brothers.

Just then, a taller boy with black hair came up behind Matt.

"I'm Hal," a held out a hand.

"Emmeline," I said, taking his hand and shaking it.

"I see you've already met Ben," he said.

"And Matt!" I added. Then yet another person came over.

Just wanted to see what was going on. Everyone's coming over here."

"We came to see the new kid." Hal said, smirking.

"Not the only new kid!"

"This is Emmeline." Matt said, introducing me.

"Hello Emmeline, I'm Tom Mason, call me Tom Welcome to the 2nd Mass."

"Nice to meet you, Tom..."

"You too. Okay, I'm heading out. Hal, you coming?" Tom said, turning away.

"Yeah. Bye you guys." Hal said, before following his dad.

After they were gone, Matt started begging Ben to take him outside.

"C'mon! I'm bored!" Matt pleaded.

"C'mon Ben!" I said, imitating Matt's voice. He laughed.

"Let's go outside!" Matt and I said at the same time. Matt and I laughed, Matt laughed in his adorable eight-year-old voice.

"Okay, fine you poor little children." Ben said, laughing too.

…

We got up and started outside. I took my book with me.

"Hey, do you mind if I run and go get my sketchbook? I'm a little tired of reading. I'll meet you guys outside."

"Okay."

I ran the opposite direction all the way to the classroom and grabbed my sketchbook and my few colored pencils. I ran all the way back and found them throwing a ball back and forth. I went over to a nearby tree and climbed up. I sat on a low hanging branch with my feet dangling. I opened my sketchbook and thought of what to draw. Like most times when I begin to think, my eyes went out of focus and I just stared ahead of me.

"Whatchya doing'?" I jumped.

"Ben! Stop doing that! You keep scaring me!" I exclaimed. Ben was sitting on the branch next to me. He laughed.

"Sorry!" he said. "What are you drawing?"

"Not sure yet…" I said, looking down at my sketchbook. Hmm… "Stay still." I started sketching.

"Don't laugh." I said when I was done. I showed it to him. He looked at the sketch of himself. He grinned.

"That's...awesome, but is my nose that big?" I snatched the sketchbook away, laughing so hard I could hardly breathe.

"Maybe…"

I felt a drop of cold wet something land on my forehead. I looked up to see an overcast sky.

"I love the rain…" I said quietly. Then I saw drops land on my sketchbook. I didn't think anything of it until I realized that it was my only sketchbook.

"I don't want my sketchbook to get ruined, we should go inside."

"Okay," was his response. He jumped down. I handed him my sketchbook. He took it and set it on the ground.

"What're you doing?" I asked. He took my hands and I jumped down.

"Thanks," I said smiling. Then the rain picked up and it was pouring. He picked up my sketchbook and put it under his shirt. I laughed.

"Matt?" He called.

"In here!" I heard Matt say. He was holding the door open for us, covered in mud. Ben took my hand, making my face grow red. We ran to the door, laughing. When we got inside, we were soaked.

We found a couple ragged towels in a supply closet and used them to dry off a bit, but we ended up just laying them on the floor so we could sit on of our stuff had been moved to a new room that we shared with a few other kids, Hal, and Matt. Speaking of Matt, he had run off somewhere, so it was just Ben and me sitting in there. Somehow, we had began to ask each other questions about each other. Like I'd ask him one and he'd answer then he'd ask me one next.

"What was your life like before the bombing?" he asked. I had dreaded this question.

"Well, I was in an orphanage from when I was ten to about a week before the attack. The skitters found me under a highway overpass." I said. Ben remained silent for a moment.

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine. Now, at least. I never had any friends, I was the strange one. " I said.

"You aren't that strange."

"Well, I used to die my hair a bunch. I never left it this blonde." I said, gesturing to my almost white, blonde hair. "People just didn't like me."

"Why would anyone not like you?" he asked.

"Why wouldn't they not like me?"

"Well, you're nice, funny, and cool." I laughed.

"You're too nice. I used to stay away from people and I think people were a little freaked by my distance. Anyway, I was an orphan, and an infamous one. Everyone knew me because of how my parents died. They were killed by our neighbors. They were wanted criminals; they'd been on the run for years. How they got away with it all, I don't know." I said in a distant voice. Ben wrapped his arm around me. It was certainly unexpected, but it felt nice. Especially because I felt like I was going to start crying, which I didn't really understand. It's been four years, I normally don't even think about it.

"Well, well, well, what is this I see?" I jumped, hearing a voice coming from behind us. I turned my head and saw Hal walking down the hallway, passing the open door to the room we were in. I felt my face go red.

When he had left, Ben looked a bit frustrated. I laughed, and my laughter was apparently contagious, because Ben started laughing, too after a minute. After a few minutes, the laughs died away.

"If Hal and them are back, I'm sure its time for dinner. You hungry? Because I know I am." I said.

"Yeah," He said standing up. I made to get up when he handed me his hand. I took it and he pulled me up.

"Thanks," I said.

Then we made our way to the cafeteria. When we got there, Ben went and got in line and my eyes wandered to a table where I saw a girl sitting all alone. I went over to her.

"May I sit here?" I asked.

"Sure," she said,"I'm Lourdes, what's your name?"

"Emmeline."

"Nice to meet you Emmeline."

"You too." That began our conversation and the conversation made Ben, Hal, Matt, and a boy named Jimmy come over. And this night is surely going to begin a few new friendships.


	3. Escape

Then I had a thought. I jumped up and went over to my bag.

"What are you looking for?" Ben asked, confused. Then I found it; my copy of The Hunger Games. I handed it to him.

"Here, read this. It's the first, and then you can read the next two. I can read them quickly, but I don't know how fast you read, so…"

"I can read this in a day!" he said, smiling. I looked at him, feeling a smile spread across my own face. I bent down and took out the other two books.

"Well here," I said, handing him the books, "tell me what you think."

…

The next day at lunch, I was reading my Deathly Hallows book when all of a sudden, Ben comes up and scares me once again.

"So I read them all," he said, sitting down across from me.

"Ben, you've got to stop coming over here when I'm reading without saying you're here. You keep scaring me!"

"Sorry." He said, with a sad look on his face. I sighed. I can't be mad at him.

"It's fine. So you read all of them?"

"Mhmm,"

"What did you think?" I asked, taking a sip of my water.

"Well, the soppy stuff wasn't my favorite part of the book…" I choked on my water.

" But I like the idea of the book, you know, the plot, its interesting."

"So you liked them?"

"Mhmm, a bit." He replied, I grinned.

"Success."

…

"So, I was thinking about asking Weaver for a job." I said, making Ben look at me.

"Why?

"I want to help. I feel like I should be doing _something. _I cant just sit here not doing anything._"_

"Well, its your choice, but, just, please don't get hurt." He said. I blushed. He seemed like he was really worried about me. Strange.

"I won't! If I do, you can blame Hal. I'm sure in some way or another it'll be his fault." I said, grinning.

"Or just go crazy and start freaking out on skitters." He said, a smile spreading across his face.

"Or you can go mental on some skitters. But if you get hurt doing that because I got hurt, I might kill you."

…

The next day, I went to Weaver to ask for a job.

"What d'ya think you can do?" he doesn't sound very willing…

"Well, I can shoot. Pretty well, actually." I said. He thought for a moment.

"You're lucky we need more soldiers." I grinned.

"So you're letting me in?"

"You'll work with Tom, Hal, Jimmy, Dai, and me. Come see me tomorrow early morning and we'll get you set up. Dismissed."

The next morning, I went to see Weaver, who issued me a gun and sent me to keep watch on the roof.

…

The next two or so weeks went by uneventfully. With keeping watch and having friends for the first time in my life, my life at least had a pattern. It flowed and everything seemed like everything was as perfect as they could get while aliens were scheming to take us over. Until one night, I was shaken awake in the dead of the night.

"Wha'?" I mumbled, still half asleep. They shook me harder.

"Come on! We've got to go! Mike just told us we've got to run." It was Ben. I got up and grabbed my bag, taking my gun out, just in case. Ben took my bag and my hand, making me blush a bit, and led me to where everyone else was standing in the hall. At first glance, I saw Hal, Rick, and Lourdes. I noticed Hal staring at us, his eyes had a glazed look about them. I thought he was staring at me, which made me slightly self-conscious, until I followed his eyesight more directly and saw that he was staring at Ben's hand holding mine, which is making me self-conscious too.

Hal then began to lead our group down the stairs and we were about to be outside when somebody called everyone else and woke them up. I'm not sure what's going on, but Ben took me straight outside with everybody else. We kept running and we ran behind a big red truck. Many were filtering into the woods, but we didn't move.

"Into the woods! Go on with out me! I'll catch up." I heard Mike say next to me. Rick, Ben and I were all at the end of the pack, Rick was going to stay with his dad I was sure. Mike insisted and seeing as the others are already gone, we ran after them. After we got into the woods, almost caught up with the others, a single gun shot sounded. A sick feeling starts to fill my stomach. I chanced a look at Rick. He looks like it hasn't registered yet. I can understand that feeling.

Ben led us to everyone else. We jogged with them, beside Lourdes and Hal.

"So why _did _we leave?" I asked to no one in particular.

"Terry's been giving kids to the skitters so they'd leave him alone." Hal replied.

"What? That's crazy!" I exclaimed.

"He _is_ crazy" was all Hal said. Ben remained silent.

We were really quiet most of the time and I was really tired. My eyes are almost refusing to open. I stumbled a lot and then I tripped over my feet and fell onto the ground.

"Ow…" I said, my face leaning against the cold asphalt.

"Are you okay?" I heard Ben ask. He sounded far away.

"Yeah, I'm okay, I just sooooo tired." I said, my eyes once again closed. Then all of a sudden, I felt hands hold me and I felt myself being lifted up.

"What's going on?" I exclaimed. I opened my eyes and saw Ben's face. He had picked me up and was now carrying me down the street.. He laughed at the look on my face.

"We don't need you falling down again." He said, shrugging.

"What a lame excuse." I mumbled, my eyes closed again.

"What?" he asked. I just shook my head and leaned on his shoulder.

"You're my best friend, ya know that?" I said, already half asleep. I heard him laugh; the last thing I heard before I fell asleep.


	4. A Deal

**I'm just kinda assuming it was Lourdes that went with them, because I didn't pay attention to who it was and now I can't find anywhere to watch that episode. Ugh! Haha okay please review! Please :) **

I woke up to a piano playing softly. I looked and saw Hal and Ben having a moment, Lourdes playing piano, and Rick sitting silently on the white couch next to me, and I was curled up in a huge, fluffy, white chair. I didn't think anything of it at first. Then I remembered everything that happened last night.

"I can do this!" I heard Ben insist. Can do what?

"Just be careful, you know Emmeline will be pissed if you aren't. And if she wakes up while you're gone." Gone? I guess now is as good a time as any to wake up. I sat up and began to rub my eyes. I yawned unintentionally, but I worked. I looked up to see Ben and Hal look at each before looking at me again.

"Hey," I said my voice hoarse. I cleared my throat and stood up. "What's up?" they had better tell the truth. I saw Hal turn around, obviously muttering something to his brother. Ben slightly shook his head before answering.

"I'm about to go and tell the 2nd Mass about Terry about everything." Hal went and grabbed a dusty bottle of grape soda he had apparently been drinking. I didn't know what to say. There was so much that could go wrong! But I didn't want to prove Hal right, that I was protective and weird over my friends like that. I don't want Ben getting hurt though. I don't even want to think about that; just thinking about it feels like someone ripped my chest in half.

"Can I come too?" I asked. Ben looked like he was at war with himself.

"I could be caught…" he began.

"All the more reason for me to come. Sorry, but I'm a bit more strategic than you are." I replied, smirking slightly. "And if I'm not mistaken, you can't shoot worth anything."

Hal chuckled. "We all know that's true." He said, clapping Ben's shoulder before walking out of the room.

"Are you sure you want to come with me?" he asked, walking closer to me.

"Yes. Terry would probably have them shoot you or send you back to the skitters and I don't want that to happen. You're all I have left, my first friend I've ever had." I said, looking down. I couldn't even think about something like that happening. I kept looking at the floor and didn't even notice that he was right in front of me. I looked up at him. He leaned towards me, and I was surprised to find myself doing the exact same thing. He leaned in more and now we were only inches apart, I could feel his warm breath caressing my face.

"Hem hem."

I jumped probably about three feet into the air. I turned to see Hal in the doorway. I backed about a foot from Ben and faced Hal.

"You probably should get out of here and go tell the 2nd mass right about now." Hal said with a smug look on his face, like he was proud of himself for bursting in on…what ever was going on…

"Right." Ben sighed, nodding.

I followed him to the door, glaring at Hal as I passed. I don't really know why, but I really wished he would have waited at least a few minutes! He just laughed at my expression and I walked off.

Ben was already outside and when he saw that I was out there, we started to run. We kept running. Running, running and more running. Until we saw someone, that is, and it turned out to be Tom and Dai.

"Where have you been? Where are the others?" Tom began bombarding us with questions.

"Oh, we've just been out having a picnic." I said sarcastically. Tom and Ben both looked at me funny, but Dai actually chuckled. I sighed at Tom and Ben. Really, one person out of three people got my joke. "Ben, maybe you should explain."

He grinned at me before turning to his father and Dai and told them everything. When he was done, Tom and Dai went to help the others. Ben and I didn't have anything better to do, so we headed to the school.

…

We were all standing outside, listening to people talk about Mike. It was a funeral of sorts. After the people talking had finished, Lourdes began to sing a hymn. Rick turned to Ben and I.

"It is in their nature to kill. _We_ would never do that. You two should understand."

…

That night, I sat up, thinking. I had convinced Tom to leave a candle burning on the floor by my palette, saying that I was going to read. Everyone had just fallen asleep, so I was surprised when Hal opened the door and came in, no matter how quiet he was.

"God, you scared me!" I said. He chuckled and sat down on an empty palette on my right.

"So." He said. I looked at him confused.

"So?"

"So, you like Ben?" For a second I didn't say anything.

"I…I guess I do…"

"You guess? That isn't an answer."

"Well, I… dunno. I dunno if I should."

"What? I mean, why not?"

"Because of everything going on, and he's my best friend, really, my first friend ever and I don't want to ruin that." I paused, before adding, " I swear to god if you repeat this, Hal…"

"I know, I know," he said, waving his hand at me. "And how would you friendship get ruined?"

"Because…lets just say.. we did magically get together. Well, what if it doesn't work out and…we end up hating each other?"

"Trust me," Hal replied, attempting to hide a grin and failing. "he wont ever hate you." And with that, he blew out the candle. Is he really trying to make this dramatic? We aren't on a TV show.

"I don't know what that means." I said.

No reply.

"Hal Mason, don't make me strangle you."

"He likes you too. A good deal. He told me, I mean I _am_ his brother. Technically, though, he also told me not to tell. So if you don't tell him this, I wont tell him what you said."

"Deal." I said. "And if you break this deal, I will make you're life living hell." He laughed.

"Goodnight Emmeline."

"Goodnight." I grumbled. I wasn't kidding about the living hell thing. If he breaks the deal, I will not rest until I get sufficient revenge.


	5. Finally and Hal Mason, this means WAR

**Hey guys. You are awesome, especially the reviewers. And, what's up with everyone loving Jimmy? Haha okay, I now present to you, Chapter 5 (dedicated to XxSammyXDxX)! Please review! **

I wasn't very hungry. I just sat through breakfast in case someone magically wanted to talk to me other than Matt, Ben, or Hal. Jimmy, Lourdes, and the others still sort of avoided me. It reminded me a lot of before the attack. People just never seemed to notice me, but it never bothered me. But now it bothers me to think that while aliens are attacking us and stealing our children to make them work for them and a lot of the population has been wiped out, people still don't notice me. 'whatever', I thought as I looked back down at my book. I had moved on the rererereading the Hunger Games.

"How many times have you read that book?" a voice said behind me. I swear to god, if these people don't stop scaring me! Hal, Ben, and now whoever this is! Gosh!

"About a million times, what makes you ask?" I said as a girl with an auburn ponytail, tanned skin, freckles over the tops over her cheeks came and sat down across from me. Her eyes were crystal blue with green and gold flecks.

"It just looks beaten to death…" she said, looking at my poor book. She was right. Many pages had been folded, accidentally ripped and then taped back together. I had once spilled soda on the cover, giving all of its pages a stain on the bottom half. I looked back up at her.

"Yeah…"

"I'm Vanessa, by the way."

"Emmeline. You new?"

"Yeah, got here early this morning... I was found by erm…Tom…I think his name was. I was sorta half asleep so…"

"Yeah." Was all I said.

"So, what's your story?" she asked.

"Well, I was harnessed…"

"What?"

"I'm not anymore though! I'm fine! Totally in control!" Man, I really shouldn't have told her that! What is wrong with me? Just then Ben walked up, the first time he hasn't come up behind me and scared me half to death.

"What's going on?" he said. I sighed.

"Nothing, I just told her about the…harness…I'm so stupid."

"No, I mean, it's okay, I didn't mean to freak, its good that they got you back…" she said, sounding sorry.

"It's fine…" I said, looking at the table. Hal called to Ben and he went to talk to his brother. I gave Hal a warning look before turning back to Vanessa.

"Are you sure? I mean, you don't have to talk to me…"

"Yeah, it's fine." She said. "By the way, who was that guy that just came over here?" Maybe I didn't want people to notice me… this girl was getting on my nerves, probably because of the emotions running through my head, starting with jealously. This is so irrational.

"Actually, never mind, who's he?" she said quickly, pointing across the cafeteria. I looked in the direction of her finger. She had her eye on Jimmy! I tried to hide my grin.

"That's Jimmy."

"Hmmm…." I giggled.

"What?"

"Nothing…it's just…its Jimmy! You think Jimmy's cute."

"You think that guy that came over here is cute." She replied. All traces of my smile fell from my face.

"Is it really that obvious?" I asked, feeling self conscious.

"Who is he anyway?" she said, ignoring my question.

"Ben, my best friend." I said.

"Hmm…" she said thoughtfully.

"What?"

"Nothing. Just thinking." This actually made me a little nervous.

"Emmeline, roof." Weaver said, passing me. Damn, I never get to do anything interesting! It's always the roof! I got up and took my book with me.

"Bye Vanessa, ill see you around I guess."

"Yeah," I heard her say before I turned and walked away.

…

I had probably been on the roof for an hour and nothing had happened. I was just standing there when all of a sudden I noticed I wasn't alone. Ben was trying to scare me again! That sneaky little ninja! Too bad it wasn't going to work this time.

"I know you're there."

Ben came up and stood beside me. I looked up at him and smiled a little bit. I was so tired. I hardly got any sleep last night, caught up on that whole deal thing with Hal.

"Aww, Ben, I'm so tired!" I complained.

"Didn't you go to sleep last night?"

"Briefly, I mostly just laid there thinking all night."

"Thinking about what?" he asked innocently. I paused. How do I get out of this?

"Er…just…stuff…life…and…what Terry did." I said, looking down and my feet. From the corner of my eye, I swear I saw him grin. I felt my face go even redder. My face probably looked as red as a tomato. I chanced a look at him. He was looking at me, which probably made me blush even more. He leaned down, closer to my face. Sort of like déjà vu, I leaned closer to him, wishing for a moment I was a little taller.

He slowly kissed me, giving me time to back out, but when I didn't his lips softly kissed mine. I wanted that moment to last forever, but it didn't. He slowly pulled away.

"I've been waiting to do that."

I think my heart just broke with happiness. I also think birds are singing and that the world is a very beautiful place today. And I also think I just heard someone come outside. My eyes bulged. I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to be alone.

Seeing me momentarily freak, he kissed me lightly, for only seconds, before disappearing again, just as Hal popped his head up over the side of the roof.

"Are you stalking me? I mean, seriously, how is it that you have interrupted these awesome moments of my life, two days in a row?" I said. He smirked.

"I saw you guys from over there, I dunno who came outside, but I was watching from that tree over there." He said, pointing.

"Watching? Something is messed up with you, Hal."

"I have to watch over my little brother!" he said, laughing.

"That doesn't mean half stalking me and cutting the awesome moments short!"

"Oh, by the way, you might want to get started on that 'living hell' idea you had yesterday." He said. I was confused.

"Why?" I asked, not getting it.

"I broke the deal." He said, smirking.

"You didn't."

"I did."

Hal Mason, I officially hate you."

"No you don't. If I hadn't have told him, he wouldn't have gotten the courage to kiss you, therefore, you do not hate me. If it wasn't for me, your face wouldn't be all red and you wouldn't be trying to hide a smile!"

As mad as I was at Hal and how much I wanted to shove him off the roof, I couldn't argue with that.


	6. I knew that lady was messed up

_I know, talk about forever! And it's going to be longer again…I'm technically grounded right now and sneaking on to upload this chapter, so PLEASE review and tell me whatchya think! Granted, it might be a minute before I can check it but…still, I love reviews :) okay, I'll shut up now _

"_Wake up_."

I rolled over, trying to ignore Hal's loud, annoying voice for just a few more minutes.

"Emmeline. Wake the fuck up."

"Why?" I asked, my voice slightly hoarse from not using it for hours.

"We have to go scouting." I'm going scouting? Interesting… I'm still tired though.

"I'll keep watch from here and go next time, okay?" he sighed. Then I heard footsteps walk into the room.

"What's going on?" it was Ben.

"She won't get up!" Hal said, making Ben sigh. For a moment I heard nothing and I assumed they had given up. Until…

"Emmeline…"Ben whispered in my ear.

"Yes?"

"You need to get up."

"So I hear…"

-pause-

"What the hell—?" I yelled, fully awake. I was in the air, being held my Ben and laughed at by Hal.

"I told you to get up!"

"I'm up now. Please put me down." I said, loudly. Ben set me back on the ground. I stood there glaring at him a moment, making him grin. Soon, I gave in, grinning at him. Hal cleared his throat.

"Not to ruin this, but we need to get going."

"fine. Let me get dressed first. Out!" I said, pointing to the door. Hal turned immediately around to get out, anything to hurry the process along. I smiled at Ben. He returned it and turned around to follow his brother out the door, shutting it softly behind him. I rubbed my eyes and yawned. What I wouldn't give to have ten more minutes of sleep.

I grabbed my bag and looked in it. I grabbed a pair of dark jeans and random long sleeved, teal shirt. I grabbed my black jacket and threw it on, braiding my hair back as I went to find my boots. I found them on the other side of the room.

'_How'd they get there?' _ I wondered, as I slipped them on and walked out the door to go get a few weapons. I already had my knife, slipped into my pocket. I went to the closet-type room and found Tom and Weaver talking outside in the hall. I slipped in without them noticing.

"Finally made it, huh?" Hal said, smirking. I glared at him.

"You'd want more sleep too, if last night was the first night you haven't been plagued with nightmares." It was true, normally I get these awful nightmares about the skitters and about my family. Last night, for whatever reason, I didn't have any. It was odd, but I was grateful.

Hal just looked at me confused. So did Dai.

"Nevermind…" I said as I finished getting ready.

After I was ready, we headed out; me, Hal, Tom, and, surprisingly, Weaver. We hopped on the motorcycles and sped away.

…

"What the hell?"

"Who d'ya think they are?" looking through the binoculars, we had seen these odd new aliens. They were tall and extremely slender, with a silver-gray color to them.

All of a sudden a spaceship zoomed above us. We crouched lower to the roofing.

"That was close," Weaver said, "let's get back to the bikes,"

…

We were walking for a minute. Weaver and Tom were talking but I really wasn't paying attention. I was once again lost in my thoughts. But I was forced to listen when…

"Did you see that?" Hal asked. And I did. Someone had ran down the street on the other side of the alley we were standing next to, like they were following us.

"If their following us, we're gonna lead 'em back to the 2nd Mass…" Tom said, looking at Weaver.

"On me," Weaver said, leading us down the alleyway. When we got there, there was gunfire. We took cover immediately, keeping our guns at the ready.

"Better get outta here before I blow your damn heads off!" a feminine voice yelled.

"We're not gonna hurt you!" Tom said loudly back.

"Yeah, well, that's what they all say. How do I know you're not one of _them_?"

"Do we look like skitters?" I asked.

"Ya know it's not the space men that bother me, it's the human trash; they're tearing up this city. Stealing everything that isn't nailed down!"

"We're with the resistance. We can help you." Tom said.

The woman came out, still holding her gun. She was a little on the plump side and had orange hair.

"Help I don't need. You wanna talk? Let's talk."

"I'm Tom Mason. This is my son, Hal, Emmeline, our friend, and our commanding officer, Captain Weaver."

"Sonya." She said, still holding her gun up.

"This would go a whole lot smoother if you'd lower your weapon." Weaver said.

"Well, I have to admit, you don't seem like those others." She replied, lowering her gun.

"Others?" I asked. I was, of course, ignored.

"How long have you been out here?" Weaver asked her.

"I never left." She said. I glanced at Hal. Wouldn't she have run out of food and supplies by now?

"You can come in, if you'd like," the woman said hesitantly. Weaver looked away from her and said quietly to us,

"We don't have time for this."

"Well if its space men you want, I've been keeping my eye on them too." Sonya said.

"It's just around the corner," she pushed. She gave us a few quick directions as she slowly walked past us. Tom and Hal went to follow her and I started to follow them, but Weaver stayed rooted to the spot.

"Our mission has to take priority and this could be a trap." He said. Hate to admit it, but he's right…she sorta reminded me of Mr. Tumnus in Narnia.

"Or an opportunity. Porter said to get information on the structure and this women has been living next to it for months." Tom said.

"Crazy woman living by herself…" Hal mumbled. I grinned. It took only a bit more persuading before it was decided. Tom, Hal, and I would follow the lady, while Weaver stayed outside and keep watch. The three of us turned and followed the lady's directions.

…

"I am sorry that I don't have any more." Sonya said, pouring tea into these china tea cups. _'Hmm,'_ I thought,_ 'how fancy,'_

"That's all right," Tom said, "Its actually a lot better than we're used to."

Sonya handed us each a tea cup. I took mine and mumbled my thanks. I took a sip of it. It was bitter all right, but it wasn't half bad that way.

"So you found all these supplies yourself?" Tom asked

"Uh, yes. Over time. Why?"

"Some of the food stores we saw looked a little picked over." I said, trying not to sound rude.

"Well…some. Not all." She said. There was a short pause.

"We used to have _so_ much fun here. Joel and Amy, my children, used to play in that courtyard." Blah, blah BLAH. This is where I stopped paying attention. I looked around the small room, looking at the family photos on the mantle and all around the room. I was a bit saddened by seeing them, it reminded me of how I never had a happy little apartment with a courtyard to play in. I never had a brother or sister or even a friend to talk to.

My thoughts were interrupted by the rumble of a motorcycle.

"Is that Weaver?" Hal asked as we all rushed out to see if it was, in fact, Weaver.

"See and ships?" Tom asked when we got outside to see Weaver ready to drive away on his motorcycle.

"No—" he said, driving away.

"Hey! Weaver!" Tom called before turning to his bike and examining it. "He pulled the spark plugs!"

"Where's he going?" I asked, just to be ignored again. I guess they didn't know, but they could at least just say that rather than make me feel so insignificant. Thanks guys.

A few minutes later, we were bent over our bikes trying to fix them.

"There's no way we can catch him and he knows it." Tom said. "I knew something was wrong. I coulda stopped him at the school…"

"Well, when captain gives you an order you're supposed to follow it. Learned that from you." Hal said. "Where d'ya think he's going?"

"I dunno. He did say that he had family in Boston…" Tom replied. They started discussing where to look first when Sonya interrupted.

"Are you leaving?" she asked.

"Just to go look for our friend," Tom said, as we all got on our bikes."

"You will be back, wont you?"

"Just as soon as we can." He said, as we sped off.

We rode for a long while. We really didn't speak, seeing as we were on motorcycles. After a while, though, we did find Weaver's bike sitting outside of a house. It had gotten dark and I wondered how long we had been away. We parked our bikes and Tom told the two of us to stay outside. I was fine with it, but Hal wanted to go inside. Tom made him stay though, using his 'fatherly authority'. We went and sat on our bikes, ready to wait. It was quiet for a minute, until Hal broke the silence.

"So, I was wondering, you never really talk about what your life was like before the invasion." I looked at him, wondering.

"So, what was your life like?"

" Boring. I lived in an orphanage." His eyes got a little wide, but he composed himself quickly, but still didn't say anything.

"My parents were killed when I was ten. I was in the orphanage for four years before I just ran away. I couldn't take it anymore. Those kids were…awful. They all hated me and I didn't have any friends or family and I just…couldn't do it anymore, ya know?" he nodded.

"Where were you when the skitters got you?"

"Under a highway overpass," I said. He laughed.

"Really?" I grinned.

"Yes," I said, laughing too. "And it sucked. But whatever. What was you guys' life like?"

"Well, it wasn't so bad. We had mom and dad and we were a family. I played lacrosse for years, Ben always had his nose stuck in a book, and Matt was always running around bugging everyone. Normal." I laughed.

"Matt isn't _that_ annoying! Trying living in an orphanage full of kids worse than him."

"I don't even want to think about that." He said, grinning.

"And I know you had a girlfriend. No one told me, but I know you did." I said. His face fell.

"Yeah, I di-, do." He said, coughing up a little bit.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—"

"No it's fine… She was taken by the skitters a few days before we got you guys back."

"What was her name?" I asked, shyly. I didn't mean to make him sad…

"Karen." He said softly, looking at the ground.

"I'm sorry." I whispered, looking at my feet.

Suddenly there was a loud noise. Hal and I looked at each other. He grabbed my hand and we ran to the other side of the house. The mech kept coming down the street, I could hear it's loud footfalls. Hal looked around the corner at it before dashing off, pulling me with him. We ran and hid under a play set. The mech came by us, but didn't see us.

I spotted Tom, running over towards the mech. I gasped. I watched him run up to it. It looked like he hit it and ran off. Someone (I'm guessing Weaver) opened fire on the mech, getting its attention. Then, all of a sudden, it exploded. Hal and I crawled out from under the mech and walked over to the other two. We then tried to figure out who could have known we were here. We all agreed. It must have been the woman, Sonya.

…

We were all standing in Sonya's house. There was a knock at the door. Sonya went up to it and opened the peek hole.

"Oh…its you!" she said.

"We brought more food. Do you have anything to tell us?" a light, feminine voice asked. Hal's eyes grew huge as Tom told Sonya to cooperate.

"No, I haven't seen anyone since those people earlier today."

"Dad!" Hal whispered, dashing over to the door. He got past Sonya and his dad and lookd through the hole. Tom pushed him back all the way to the wall as the voice spoke again.

"Its Karen! Dad!" Hal whispered. Tom struggled to silence him and hold him still. I went and helped restrain him.

"We cant help her right now." Tom said.

After a moment of silence, I gathered that Karen had left. I felt awful for Hal. It must be hell to go through that.

"You gave us up, didn't you?" Weaver interrogated Sonya.

"They promised they wouldn't hurt you."

"And you believed them after what they did to you?" he asked.

"The girl said that they would bring you back and that I would have company again the way it was before. And… they always promised to bring them back…" she said softly.

"Who knows how many people she's given up to them." I said quietly, as Weaver made his way back over to us.

"And that's why they let her go." Tom said to us, quietly. "An old tactic, you leave a couple friendlies behind like watchdogs and pick up the intel the enemy never could. They got her for a box of tea."

"Well, what're we gonna do now?" Hal asked.

"We're gonna take her with us, make sure she doesn't do this to anyone else."

"No. In three days, all this changes. This place is all sehs got. Take it away from here, might as well shoot her on the spot." Said Weaver. Tom went over to Sonya.

"Its gonna be getting late soon, we've got to go. You're welcome to come along with us."

"I don't think so, I should be here when Amy and Joel come back home." she replied. Tom looked at us briefly.

"Well, if you decide to change your mind, we're going to be heading north. We've heard that Gloster's clear."

"Gloster? I've heard that's quite lovely. "

"I've heard that too." He said. He stood back and we went to leave the apartment.

"Gloster?" I asked quietly.

"We wont be there, but the aliens will be, looking for their next box of tea." Tom said, opening the door so we could leave.

…

When we got back to the school, I saw Vanessa talking to Jimmy over to the side. I stifled a laugh at the sight of them. It was so odd. Vanessa did not seem like the kind of girl would like Jimmy. Just goes to show that there's more to a person than your first impression.

I walked into the school and into the room that I shared with Ben, Hal, Matt, and Tom. I went over to my corner and pulled off my boots and put them by my bag. I quickly pulled off my jeans and put on some comfy pants that I am so grateful I packed when I left the orphanage. They were really comfy, but they were plain black and didn't look like you slept in them.

"These pants were worth taking from Juliana." I said to myself. Then I grabbed another book (Through the Looking Glass) and headed outside, hoping to find a tree to sit in.

When I got outside, I found a crowd of people surrounding Pope. I saw Ben and I snuck up behind him. I got right behind him and…

"What's going on?" I asked, making him jump. He turned around and looked at me. I grinned. "That's for scaring me so many times." I said. He grinned.

"Everybody, I'm only gonna do this once!" I heard Pope shout.

"What's going on?" I asked Ben again, standing beside him. He wrapped his arm around me.

"I dunno, he said he has something to show us." he said simply. I leaned my head on Ben's shoulder, extremely tired.

Pope showed us about his new bullets. They had mech slugs and when he finished his demonstration, everyone erupted in cheers. I joined in as much as I could, but I was so tired that I couldn't add very much to the excitement. I mostly just leaned against Ben and smiled, happy that finally we had an advantage in this war.


	7. The Strangest Start to a Birthday ever

_Is it bad that I have a favorite chapter in my own story? So far it's chapter 5 and this chapter (7). Haha I'm so weird…Anyways…this chapter is quite long and it changes POVs a bit towards the end, so pay attention pleasie, if you want to undastaaand :D Now, READ and pretty, pretty, beautiful, flawless please review and I'll love you! _

I guess it's probably pointless to be sitting here planning the perfect way to get back at Hal, seeing as he did cause some things to happen (which I'm actually a bit happy that they _did_ happen…), but I don't care. I couldn't live with myself if I didn't take this opportunity to get him good. Any old prank wouldn't do. I needed something worthwhile. Plus, I needed to make him happy again. He's always sad, thinking of Karen, and even if he didn't realize it, I could tell it affected the others too.

It's been a couple hours after Pope's demonstration, and I'm sitting up in a tree again. I've always loved sitting in trees and this tree was perfect for climbing. It was probably pretty late, but I didn't feel like going to bed. I brought up my sketchbook and instead of drawing I'm writing short stories. I know it's useless to be writing anything, but I've always written stories. I was writing a book back at the orphanage before I ran away and then the aliens came. I had so many chapters written on spare sheets of paper I had found and I still have them, tucked into the back of my sketchbook. But I couldn't bring myself to pull them out. I had written so many awful things on those sheets, things about my past and about the kids there who tortured me and about erratic hormones and I did NOT want to even think about any of that. So I kept my sketchbook steady so none of the papers would fall out. I didn't want Ben or anyone to find them on the ground and read them. They were personal. Some of them I used as a journal over the years and even recently and there was no way in hell I'm going to let anyone read them.

Suddenly I saw Ben at the bottom of the tree. Did he come look for me? Did he come out of a fairy tale book?

"Hey," I called down.

"Hey, what're you doing?" he asked, starting to climb up the tree.

"Nothing..." I said closing my note book as he reached my branch and sat beside me. He grinned lightly.

"So, what'd you do all day while we were gone?" I asked.

"Well, I went to see Dr. Glass for the follow-up," he said. "She said to tell you that she wants to see you in the morning." He added.

"Ha-ha, all right."

"Aaandd…I played catch with Matt for a little while…" he said slowly, thoughtfully, looking down at his feet. I could tell something was bothering him.

"What's up? I can tell something's bothering you…"

"I…uh its nothing." He said to his feet.

"Ben, you can tell me."

"Its just that…I went to go talk to Rick today and he keeps talking about the skitters coming back for us and that they love us. and it makes me mad and confused and…kinda scared." He admitted. "I mean, how could he be on _their_ side?"

"He's confused. The harness affected him more than it affected us, you know that."

"I know, its just that…he seems so set on it, ya know? Like he actually wants them to come back for us." he replied weakly.

"Maybe he does want them to. And maybe he really believes the skitters love us, and…maybe they do. But I hate them and I know you do too. They won't take us away again."

I hate the skitters. I hate all the aliens. Coming to our planet, who did they think they were? Stealing the children and harnessing them, including me and Ben. Killing so, _so_ many people.

I felt something wet travel down my cheek. I came back to reality and looked down at my feet. I felt Ben's hand wipe my tears away, but I still looked at my feet.

"Emmeline,"

I looked up at him and he wrapped his arms around me, making me feel better. Wait, I thought I was supposed to be making him feel better about the Rick thing…well, this works too.

"C'mon, it's getting late." He said softly. I nodded. We started climbing down and walking towards the school. When we were inside, I reached around for Ben's hand. It was so dark in here! He chuckled as I grabbed his hand. We then slowly made our way to the room we shared Tom, Hal, and Matt. I slowly opened the door, glad for once that all the candles had been blown out and everyone was asleep. I went over to the two beds that were shoved together and crawled in the middle. Ben fell into the bed beside me.

"Good night," he whispered. I could tell he was exhausted. I scooted closer to him and gave him a small kiss.

"Good night," I said softly before burying my face in his chest.

…

I woke up early and went to go see Dr. Glass. Everyone was still asleep when I left, even the sun. I went to the makeshift infirmary to find the doors open and Anne sitting at her desk.

'_well, at least she's awake,'_ I thought. I knocked on the wall, making her jump up and look at me.

"Oh, Emmeline, I'm actually glad you came so early." She said, standing up.

"I'm not. I could sleep for another three hours but my mind won't let me… I blame the nightmares." I said, laughing.

"Nightmares?"

"Yeah, just of the skitters and stuff. And the orphanage." I explained. She only nodded and gestured to a stool. I went over and sat down, pulling my shirt over my head so she could examine the spikes. I sat up as straight as I could.

"Tell me if you can feel this." She said. After a minute I spoke up.

"I cant feel anything if there isn't anything to feel…"

"You didn't feel that either…" she asked. Well, it wasn't really a question…

"No…is everything all right?"

"Yeah, its fine. You can put your shirt back on now."

Once I was dressed again, I turned and looked at her. I could tell something was up. I contemplated saying something about it, asking her maybe, but I decided against it. I walked out of the room after bidding her goodbye and went to the other side of the school. I went to the room I shared with Ben, Tom, Hal, and Matt. Ben and Matt were still sleeping, but Tom and Hal were no where to be found. They must have gone scouting or something. I went over to my bed and laid down, careful not to wake Ben. I am_ soo _going back to sleep.

Only a few minutes later did something come over to me and start shaking me. I wasn't sure who it was, but I decided to pretend being asleep.

"Emmeline, I know you're awake." It was Matt. Dang kid…I just laid there.

"Emmeliiiiiiiine! Emmmeelllliiiiiinnneee!"

"Maaaattt!" I said, sitting up quickly, making him jump.

"Shhhh, don't wake up Ben!"

"Why not?"

"…Because he needs sleep."

"Well, so do I." I replied.

"Emmeline! Please, I…I need help." He pleaded. Help? Matt?

"Emmeline!"

"Yes?"

"Please help me?"

"All right…What dya need?"

…

Five minutes later he had dragged me outside. He turned to look at me. I looked down at the eight year old with questioning eyes, wondering why we were out here. I mean, we were one of the only people awake. He led me to a tree and sat down. What the heck? I sat down next to him.

"So, whats up?"

"Okay, I need help talking to this girl."

Okay, that is the cutest thing ever.

"A girl, huh?"

"Yeah. She's my age and we don't ever talk, but she's so nice to everyone."

"And you like her?" he blushed and I took that for a yes. N'aaaww.

"Well, just go and say hi!"

"Just say hi?"

"Yeah! Then just talk to her, have a conversation. After that, follow your gut. Or…ask someone else. Some random guy. But I think you should give her some flowers or something, tell her she's pretty."

By now Matt's face was as red if not redder than a tomato. This is literally the most adorable thing that's happened since the aliens attacked. And that's even counting Ben's nice~ness. So yes, this is really adorable.

"I'm nervous." He said.

"Don't be! I mean, she's probably still asleep, you have time to plan what your gonna say and all that jazz."

He was quiet for a minute and I almost fell back asleep.

"Do need anything else?" he shook his head. "All right…oh hey, do you know what the date is?" I asked, getting a thought.

"Uh…the thirteen, I think is what Uncle Scott said." He replied.

"Well, look at that. Its my birthday…Weird…"

"Happy Birthday." He said, smiling lightly. I grinned back.

"Ha-ha, thanks. You're present to me can be a nap, all right?"

"Okay."

I got up and started back inside to find Ben sitting up in bed, looking really tired.

"Finally…" I said with a grin, walking into the room. The sun was finally up all the way, it still couldn't be later than nine o'clock. I went over to Ben and sat beside him.

"Where's Matt?" he asked, looking around for his brother.

"I actually just went to give him lessons on talking to this girl he likes." I said.

"Really?" I nodded. "That's…-"

"Adorable?" I said, cutting him off.

"Yeah, adorable." He said, grinning. I scooted over into his lap and leaned against his chest. "Ben?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't wanna do anything today." he laughed.

"Then don't."

"You know as well as I do that someone is going to come in that door any minute now and tell me that there's something I need to –" I stopped when the door opened, revealing Hal. "I told you," I said with a grin, looking up at Ben.

"…Emmeline, Lourdes needs help in the infirmary." He said, smirking. I sighed, getting up. I gave Ben a kiss. "See you," I said. I turned around and walked out, but not before punching Hal's arm as I passed. Not hard though! I wouldn't hit a guy hard! We all know he would get pissed that a _girl_ beat him up!

When I got to the infirmary, I walked up to Lourdes.

"Hey Lourdes. Hal said you needed help?"

"Hey! Er…not really. I was just about to go get some breakfast."

"That's weird, Hal just came and found me. Why would he tell me you needed help?"

"I dunno…wanna get some breakfast with me?"

"Sure," I said, as we made our way out of the infirmary.

When we got to breakfast, I grabbed a small bowl of oatmeal, thanking the lady, and sat down at a table with Lourdes and Vanessa. For some reason, Vanessa looked totally bummed. While Lourdes and I attempted conversation, she just glared at her oatmeal.

"Hey, Nessi, is something wrong?" I asked her, putting to use her nickname.

"Wha-oh, uh…not really. Its just that I think…Jimmy hates me."

"What? No, I'm sure he doesn't."

"He never talks back to me and ignores me all the time!"

"Well, he's got a lot on his mind right now, the attacks in a couple days."

"I could talk to him, if you want." Lourdes offered.

"Would you?" Vanessa asked, looking at Lourdes with gracious eyes.

"Yeah, of course!" Lourdes replied with a smile.

After breakfast I went to go find Ben. Again.

"What'd Lourdes need?" he asked when I found him.

"Actually, when I found her she said she was going to eat breakfast. She didn't need help at all!" I said.

"That's odd.."

"Yeah…the brightside is that I don't think anyone is going to ask me to do anything else. Or at least I hope not." He laughed.

"Well, then, what dya wanna do instead?"

Damn you, Ben Mason. Couldn't have phrased that any other way, could you?

"I dunno…got any interesting ideas?" he shrugged.

"Well, we could go hang outside for a bit," he suggested.

"Sounds great." I said, giving him a quick kiss before going over to my bag.

"What're you doing?" he asked me curiously.

"I only brought so many books with me when I left the orphanage: Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, Through the Looking Glass, and—" I pulled out my only other book. "Aesop's Fables. I dunno why I brought it, but I did. And now I am going to read them. My last book." I finished sadly. I adore reading. Its just one of those things. It allows you to come into a new reality, a concept I absolutely love.

"C'mon, lets go outside," I said, taking his hand in mine and leading the way outside.

**Ben POV**

When we got outside, I heard someone calling my name.

"Ben!" I turned to see Matt running over.

"Whats up?" I asked him.

"Just come with me, okay?"

I hesitated, but I knew why he wanted me to come. Because of the surprise for Emmeline. When I took a step to follow Matt, so did she. I knew there was no way I could let her come and hear what we were planning. So did Matt.

"Just Ben." He said instantly.

"All right…" Emmeline said awkwardly.

"See you in a little bit." I said looking at her. She looked at me with her bright, shining green eyes and grinned. "Of course," she said, before dashing away to the nearest tree. Without hesitating, she climbed up and sat on a branch, leaning against the trunk of the tree and shot me a smile. Matt nudged me, so I turned and nodded before following him back into the school.

He led me to some random closet. I looked at my little brother. "What's up?" I questioned.

"You have to find something to give Emmeline for her birthday." He said. I nodded.

"I know, but…wait a second…d'ya know where they moved the library books?"

"In Uncle Scott's office, I think…"

**Emmeline POV**

I was sitting in my tree reading when I suddenly felt a sharp pain run down my spine. I gasped and heard this weird noise in my head. It sounded like a skitter, and it was loud in my ear. I probably would've gotten a headache if it hadn't have disappeared so quickly. I looked around to see if anyone had noticed me wincing in pain. I didn't see anyone looking my way so I hopped down from my tree and ran off to find Ben.

**Ben POV**

On my way out of Uncle Scott's office, I went over to the box of books someone had put in there. My mind was still a little clouded from that weird radio thing, but I needed to get at least one book for Emmeline.

I started perusing through the books, searching for ones she might like. I found some good books, but there wasn't a whole lot of choices. I ended up grabbing a Chronicles of Narnia book with all of the books in it, thinking I could probably come back and look again later. I held the book tightly and tried to find something to put it in. I came across a oddly coloured bag and decided to stick it in there. Once it was in, I turned to leave the room. Only a few feet outside of the doorway, something hit me. Hard.

**Emmeline POV**

I was running through the school, looking for Ben when I collided with something. turns out it was Ben. Again. How many times am I going to knock us both to the floor?

"I'm sorry! I didn't see you!" I said, getting up. he laughed and got up too, holding some strange, purple bag. I looked at it questioningly for a second before he replied.

"It's okay." Then I noticed him looking at something behind me. I turned to see Uncle Scott leaving his office.

"C'mon," he said, taking my hand and leading me into the classroom. He took me behind the island and over to a desk with some weird radio-like thing on it. He began to inspect it, letting go of my hand for a moment.

"I thought it was _them_ at first." Said a voice behind us. We both looked over our shoulders to see Rick. Ben grasped my hand in his again.

"You heard it too." Ben said. I wasn't really a question.

"I'm glad it wasn't the skitters." I said quietly. Ben squeezed my hand lightly.

"What're they trying to do with this?" Rick asked, walking over to the other side of Ben and inspecting the radio-thing.

"Possibly contacting others and jamming the communication between the skitters." Ben replied.

"If they do that, then they might not find us!" Rick said, looking slightly shocked. Well, at least he showed some emotion at all.

"Is that your new thing, creeping me out?" Ben retorted. Rick paused.

"Why wont you tell the other humans about me?" Rick asked him. What am I, chopped liver?

"You realize that everything the skitters did to us was wrong. You're human too." I pointed out.

"I don't wanna be." He said, looking at me with his expressionless eyes before turning them back to Ben. "You're not telling them 'cause you're scared. Because you can feel the change coming, too."

I wanted to run, to hide, anything except say here right now. If Ben wasn't holding my hand, I probably would have. I cant take it. Its true, I can feel something odd, and I don't like it.

"I hope they come soon." Rick added quietly.

I looked at Ben with bulging eyes. What is wrong with this guy?


End file.
